Four Christmases
by cellotlix
Summary: Over the years, Shepard and Kaidan always find a way to spend Christmas together. Fluff, smut, romance, and just a hint of angst.


**AN: Consider this my Happy Holidays to all of you who read and follow my stories throughout the year. I hope only the very best things for you all.**

**(The timeline is a little wonky, but I thought I would take creative license for maximum adorableness.)  
**

**Please drop me a line and let me know if you enjoyed it, and again Happy Holidays!  
**

-1-

That first Christmas had not been an imposition. Before the Reapers, she had liked holidays. Looked forward to them, even.

She let Ashley jam a jaunty red hat on her head and frog march her down to the crew deck, where the party waited for her arrival. As soon as they saw the two of them round the corner, Tucks hit the stereo and blasted the room with festive carols at a volume that wouldn't have been appropriate any other day.

She gazed into their smiling, red faces and assumed that they'd broken into the stores of alcohol already. Not that the crew made a habit of it, but it was Christmas after all, and special occasions were fair game.

Joker limped to her side and threw a smug elbow in her ribs, grinning. "Enjoying the festivities?" he asked, sipping on a drink.

She shrugged, making a show of it. "I had some work left to do . . ."

"For crying out loud, Commander. You can afford to take one day off. It's Christmas."

So she allowed herself to be convinced in this manner, making a great show of capitulation with a heavy sigh and slumping shoulders. "Fine, fine," she said, waving him off. "I'll have you all working twice as hard tomorrow, though."

"Aw, come on," Joker wheedled. "That'll mean we can't get stupid drunk tonight, because of the hangover, and if we can't get stupid drunk tonight, I'm crashing us into the nearest asteroid field."

"Empty threats, Lieutenant."

This elicited a scowl. "Yeah . . ."

"But mine were empty too."

Joker broke in a bright grin and clapped her on the shoulder with as much force as he could manage. "Cheers, Commander."

She waved him off, but not before he managed to pass a drink into her hands. Eggnog and rum, it looked like. She took a studious sip.

Across the room she could see Kaidan talking with Ashley, the two craned together to hear one other over the din of the party. Ashley said something – a joke probably – and Kaidan laughed in his ridiculously charming and understated way; a bright chuckle at best, but it lit up his face, and she felt for one dizzy moment that he was the only point of light in a world of darkness.

She wouldn't lie to herself and say she wasn't a little jealous. Sure she was. Any red-blooded woman would be, looking at the two of them thick as thieves, heads nearly touching as they whispered about anyone and anything that seemed to amuse them. She felt desperately lonely then. She and Ashley were close, but not as close as that. And as for the Lieutenant? When they managed to forget the nearly physical desire that made itself manifest between them, they got along pretty well.

Problem was, these days it had become even more difficult to put that desire aside.

She'd make decent headway toward that goal, but all her work would amount to nothing the moment he turned to her with his head lowered, looking up at her in a way that made her feel ridiculous and weak in the most literal sense. She would hate it if she had the capacity to hate anything about him. And she mostly certainly didn't.

She took another sip of the eggnog and tried to focus on Joker singing inappropriate lyrics above the recording of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, much to the amusement of the rest of the crew. It was nice to see the pilot coming out of his shell a bit (though she knew that could have just as easily been the alcohol at work).

It was futile, she decided. She was so absorbed in the revelry that she didn't notice Kaidan threading through the party-goers, and she nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard his voice in her ear. "Merry Christmas, ma'am."

She held a shaking hand to her chest. "Christ, Kaidan. Don't sneak up on a lady like that."

"I was hardly sneaking."

"You were if I say you were."

He capitulated, breaking into a sweet smile. "Yes, ma'am."

In that moment, she felt monstrously guilty. "Ah – how about you lay off the 'ma'am' stuff today, huh? It's Christmas and all that."

"Yes, Commander."

She swatted him. "You can't resist, can you?"

"Can't resist what, Commander?"

"You are insufferable."

He indicated the drink in his hands. "Well, I've had a few. I can't be held responsible for whatever stupid things I say tonight."

"Can't you?"

"It wouldn't be sporting."

She flashed him a predatory grin. "Since when have I ever cared about being sporting?"

"Fair point, Commander."

With a sigh, she took another sip of her eggnog and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "One of these days, you're just going to call me Shepard. Or even better, you'll call me Sam."

"Maybe I will, but it won't be on the Normandy."

"I might take that bet if I hadn't already cleaned you out fairly recently."

"I'll thank you for your mercy, then," he grinned.

If uninterrupted, they would continue in that strain for hours, a fact that she knew by experience. Even when not shamelessly flirting, she found she enjoyed his calm, easy manner; the sweetness in him that she believed could never be blunted or diminished by anything.

Later, she would chalk it up to luck that neither of them noticed Ashley slinking around the party with a sprig of mistletoe in her hands, tying it to the bulkhead above them and shushing the rest of the crew ostentatiously so their laughter wouldn't give her away. Shepard was still trying to wrap her head around how Ashley had come by mistletoe on such short notice . . . unless she had been planning something like this for months. (That was likely).

After Ashley hopped down and secured her drink from Garrus, she said in a loud carrying voice: "Well, look at that! Mistletoe! However did that get there?"

Shepard craned around until she saw the offending sprig, just above her head, equidistant between Kaidan and her. She narrowed her eyes. "That wasn't there before," she said, scowling.

"Wasn't it? Well, you two better kiss now. If you don't, it'll be bad luck and we'll all be doomed next year," Ashley said, mugging delightedly to the rest of the crew.

Shepard tried to ignore her suddenly cold hands, or the way her gut seemed to swoop and lurch at the prospect of kissing Kaidan – such a simple, harmless gesture! And yet, she felt as if to do so would be to lose control, to plunge off the side of whatever precarious precipice that she and Kaidan stood on now. It was a slippery slope, one that you didn't just recover from.

"Well, come on!" Ashley urged, and Shepard did not miss the incredibly smug cast to her grin.

Kaidan shot Ashley a hard look, brows pulled low, and it elicited a delighted shrug the Chief, who looked entirely too pleased with herself to be tolerated. With a sigh, he turned to face Shepard with something like resignation on his face, but also a bit of fear. Was she imagining it?

It was suddenly too quiet; even the carols had stopped. She couldn't breathe or think or do anything other than take a step forward, so that they were only separated by a few trembling inches. He was a lot taller than she realized; how had she never noticed this before? Maybe because they'd never been this close before.

For all her bluster, he was the one to close the last of the distance between them and gently place his lips on hers. Her first thought was that it was strange for a man to have such nice lips when his hand came up to her cheek, sliding into her hair, and she lost the power of the thought completely.

She didn't hear snickering, or Joker and Ashley whispering to each other delightedly. The only thing to break through this kiss – this terrifying slice of perfection – was Wrex, who cleared his throat so loudly that they jumped apart, and in that instant the room burst into raucous hooting and applause.

So much for being discrete, Shepard thought to herself with dismay. She chanced a sideways glance at Kaidan, who had gone so red she paradoxically feared he'd burst a vessel in his temple.

Ashley slung her arms around their shoulders, wedging herself between them with a cute grin. "Looks like this year is going to be a lucky one," she said, winking.

* * *

-2-

Kaidan sat at his personal terminal and threaded his hands through his hair, sighing deeply. For the last two years, this particular holiday had been less an occasion to celebrate and more a wound, rife with dozens of unpleasant memories that he struggled to repress of the woman he'd loved and lost. _Her lovely smile, the sound of her laughter, her lips against his -_

This year was different. For Shepard was no longer dead, but alive and well – or as well as anyone could be in the employ of Cerberus. And though it was impossible to see her, it wouldn't be impossible to send her a message.

The question was: did he want to?

He quickly decided this was a stupid question. Of course he wanted to. They'd been communicating via chat program for the last few weeks, and though their conversations were still tense and difficult sometimes, in the end it was wonderful to be able to talk to her again, in whatever capacity she could manage.

_KA 23:11 - Shepard? _

_KA 23:14 – Just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas, wherever you are._

_KA 23:14 – And . . . well, I hope Cerberus isn't working you too hard. Or making you do anything too awful. Or – well, you know. _

_KA 23:15 – Anyway. Merry Christmas._

He didn't have to wait nearly as long as he thought he would for a reply.

_SS 23:20 – Merry Christmas to you too, Kaidan. _

_SS 23:20 – And no; Cerberus is not working me too hard. Or making me do anything awful._

_SS 23:20 – TIM knows he's got pretty tenuous grip on me. Anything so much as gives me a funny feeling, and I'm out._

_KA 23:21 – That's good to hear._

_SS 23:21 – Yes, I thought you'd like that._

_SS 23:21 – So, what are your plans for the holidays this year?_

_KA 23:22 – Ma wanted me to come back to Earth, but I decided to stay on the Citadel, get some work done._

_SS 23:22 – Your poor mother. Her only crime being that she wanted to see your precious face._

_KA 23:23 – You forgot the constant refrain that I'm looking thin and therefore I should eat constantly._

_SS 23:23 – I've seen recent pictures of you. You are looking a little thin, Kaidan._

He rubbed the back of his neck, slightly uncomfortable that she should notice this.

_KA 23:24 – You going to lay on the guilt trip now?_

_SS 23:24 – No . . . but I might just ask you to take better care of yourself. If that's acceptable._

_KA 23:24 – What about you, Shepard? I assume you're in your room working rather than celebrating with your crew._

He could almost see her heave an uncomfortable sigh.

_SS 23:25 – They mean well. Jack actually managed to sing a Christmas carol without dissolving into incoherent cursing. Though I'm pretty sure if looks could kill, I'd be long dead by now._

_KA 23:25 – She sounds lovely._

_SS 23:25 – She is, actually. In her own way. _

_KA 23:26 – I'm sorry._

_SS 23: 26 – Oh, it's fine. She has her moments, too. Anyways I made an attempt. But in the end . . . I don't know. It's not the same._

_KA 23:26 – I know what you mean._

_SS 23:26 – Right? I keep thinking about the old Normandy and the old crew and . . . and Ashley. I really miss her. _

_KA 23:27 – I miss her too. She wouldn't have tolerated this moping though, that's for sure._

_SS 23:27 – Ha. 'Frowning causes wrinkles, old lady. Get your ass downstairs and throw one back for my sake if nothing else.'_

_KA 23:28 – She'd try that mistletoe trick again, no doubt._

_SS 23:28 – Even though I'd be on the lookout for it this time._

_KA 23:28 – Wouldn't have made a difference. She could be pretty wily. She even warned me she was going to do something like it, and I – ha. I dared her to try._

_SS 23:29 – God help you._

_KA 23:29 – Seriously. I know better now. I mean . . . not that it makes a difference. _

He couldn't believe he'd said that. Sure; it was true, but it was also viciously cruel.

_KA 23:30 – I'm sorry._

_SS 23:30 – It's fine. It's true, isn't it? God, though. I miss her so much. _

_KA 23:30 – Yeah._

There was a pause, and at first he thought that Shepard was engrossed in their mutual memories of Ashley. But when he saw what she'd written, he nearly choked on the water he'd been drinking.

_SS 23:32 – I miss you. _

It was the blunt sincerity in how she'd said it – without any qualifiers or the benefit of an entreaty. Just the sentiment; bare as day. He realized that it was one he felt himself; that these last years had been bleak and dark without her, and despite everything, it was a treasure beyond his ability to describe or properly appreciate to have her alive again.

_KA 23:34 – I miss you too._

_SS 23:34 – There was a small part of me that hoped I'd be done with this by now. That I'd have defeated the Collectors – without any casualties, I might add – and . . . I don't know. Every day it seems less likely the Alliance will take me back after this. But it's a nice daydream. Coming back, working with people that I can trust. Keeps me hopeful. _

_KA 23:35 – So this nice daydream is just about you coming back?_

_SS 23:35 – There are other parts. I don't think you've earned the right to hear about them yet._

_KA 23:35 – Ouch. _

He could almost see the coy grin on her face; not as bright as it had been before, but that it existed at all was a gift.

_SS 23:36 – I didn't say never, Kaidan. I just said you haven't 'yet'._

_KA 23:37 – I'll keep that in mind._

_SS 23:37 – I bet you will._

_KA 23:37 – Ha._

_SS 23:37 – Yeah, I know, I'm not very funny. Anyway, I should probably get back to work._

_KA 23:37 – Working on Christmas? Pitiful._

_SS 23:38 – You were, too. _

_KA 23:38 – I've come to terms with how pitiable I am. _

_SS 23:38 – You mean pitiful._

_KA 23:39 – I meant what I said._

_SS 23:39 – Ha! Good one._

_KA 23:39 – Not really. But you're nice to humor me._

_SS 23:39 – Okay, now you're just being ridiculous._

_KA 23:39 – Yeah, that one was pretty bad. I seem to remember you like bad puns, though._

_SS 23:40 – I used to._

_KA 23:40 – Bullshit. You still do._

A pause.

_SS 23:41 – Yeah, I still do. You win._

_KA 23:41 – I won't keep you any longer. _

_SS 23:41 – Not like you're holding me against my will or anything. But believe it or not, I'm still technically a Spectre, and that means I still have paperwork to do._

_KA 23:41 – All the responsibilities, none of the perks._

_SS 23:42 – Pretty much. _

_SS 23:42 – Although, I'm pretty certain they don't read any of my reports. _

_KA 23:42 – Really? _

_SS 23:42 – Nope. I guess I wouldn't either, with what I've been reporting. Lots of missing colonists, Terminus trouble – hardly important to their cushy little setup in Citadel space. Now, at least._

He hated that she had become as grim as he felt these days, that he was more likely to hear something bitter from her than something silly.

_KA 23:43 – Shepard . . . _

_SS 23:43 – Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. Just . . . have a good holiday, Commander._

_KA 23:43 – You too, Commander._

_SS 23:44 – I'm not a Commander anymore, remember?_

_KA 23:44 – You are to me. _

For a moment, he wasn't sure if he'd said the wrong thing. But he realized as he saw the typing indicator flicker on and off that he might have finally said the right thing, the words that could break through the bitter shell that these last months had given her. It wasn't like things were, but it was a start. It was all they had.

_SS 23:47 – Y-yeah. I'll talk to you soon, Kaidan._

_KA 23:47 – I'd like that._

* * *

-3-

Shepard let her head thunk onto her desk in a gesture of defeat. She'd been attempting to finish a report on the latest string of missions to Hackett, but her mind wandered.

Two decks below, the crew was attempting to celebrate Christmas in a manner that ignored the looming threat of the Reapers and the recent losses they had sustained. She'd been ignoring hails from Traynor for the last six hours, which had grown in frequency as the day grew later. The last one had included a postscript from James, who claimed that if she didn't get her cute ass down on the Crew Deck in ten, he'd throw her over his shoulder and drag her down whether she liked it or not.

She wasn't really in the celebrating mood. Granted, she wasn't most days, but this Christmas in particular had taken a grim mood in her mind. The losses of Mordin and Thane were still very fresh; she found that the smallest things reminded her of them, and whatever happiness she had found in that small moment would disappear.

Though, that wasn't entirely true. Kaidan had rejoined the Normandy, and they had finally reconciled their differences. Things weren't exactly as they had been in those breathless, happy days after they had defeated Saren, but they were together and that was enough.

Almost as if he had summoned him by thought alone, she heard a polite knock on her door and instantly knew it was Kaidan (he was often the only one who bothered to knock these days). "It's open," she called, rubbing her brow.

She heard him come in – quietly, respectfully – and set something on her desk before pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "You've been ignoring the party."

"I have work to do."

"You don't think you can take a little break?"

She sighed, leaning into him. "I don't know that I'm really in the celebrating mood."

"Anything I can do to change that?"

"Probably not."

"Come on." He leaned down until his lips hovered just over the tender skin of her neck. When he breathed, she felt a thrill run down her spine. "Come with me."

"Can it wait for a bit?" she managed, though the protest was more a last ditch effort against capitulating to their mutual desire. "Hackett won't like if these are late."

"You don't think he's at his own party?"

"Hackett is probably trying to get some work done himself. I talked to him just a few hours ago."

Kaidan took her hand, gently leading her away from the desk. "Yeah? How's he doing?"

"Stressed. Unhappy. He didn't say as much, but he misses my mom. Probably irritated with the constant attempts to pull him away from work. You know; that sort of thing."

He fixed her with a knowing look. "Are you really irritated?"

She sighed as he pulled them down onto the bed and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close, and she thrilled at the proximity of him – still so new, yet tinged with an echo of memory. "It would be better if I was."

"Hm."

They lay in silence for a long time. He slid his hand up the length of her back, and she shivered at the tenderness of his touch – so light, yet edged with something darker, something wanting, evident in the way he pressed his palm to the small of his back, a sigh rumbling deep. She traced her fingers over the broad plane of his chest and savored the smell of him – the strident scent of his aftershave, the shampoo he used, the salt on his skin.

"I didn't get you anything," she murmured, pulling closer to him.

"Hm?"

"For Christmas. I didn't get you anything."

Another soft sigh. "This is all I wanted."

She tried to hide how charmed she was, that somehow no matter what passed between them, he always knew exactly the right things to say. "You trying to butter me up, Major?"

"Just saying how it is."

"Right, right. You would tell me if you wanted something else, though, right?" She poked him in the side. "No bull, right?"

He laughed at the memory. "Why are you assuming I want something else?"

"I like to think I've gotten to know you pretty well over the years." She smiled, both fond and coy. "By this point I can read your mind."

"Can you, now?"

"Yes. You are thinking 'golly, that Commander is one sexy woman. I'd like to take off her clothes and kiss her until she lightens up a bit, because she's so pretty when she smiles.' That sound about right?"

"Minus the golly part," he grinned, nuzzling close to her. "Should I take this as permission?"

"Maybe you should."

It was as if she'd flipped a switch in him, and he'd been restraining himself for her benefit, keeping himself at bay while she warmed up to putting her work aside for a few hours to entwine on their bed, touching skin to skin, with only the barest of spaces between them. He brought his lips to hers, though this was nothing like all those Christmases ago – hesitant, controlled, fearful. This was raw, and she knew that he still had not grown accustomed to the joy that it was to be able to do so.

He pulled at the buttons her shirt until they gave under the strain, popping apart, giving him unfettered access to slide his hands up the smooth expanse of her belly before coming to hover over her breasts.

"You're just the same," he breathed. "I thought they'd change you, but you're just the same."

"Not in all ways."

"In the important ways," he said, hovering above her, kissing her neck feverishly, one hand come to rest on her face. "In the best ways."

She couldn't breathe, and she loved it. Every inch of skin that his hands touched trailed fire, vital and alive – the most alive she'd felt since she took that first breath on that Cerberus station over a year ago.

He pulled off his own shirt before fumbling at her belt and pulling off her pants, throwing them across the room, and she didn't even care when they knocked a stack of datapads off her desk, where they clattered loudly on the floor. She didn't care when her terminal pinged again – undoubtedly Traynor or James threatening to come get her again. She only saw Kaidan – suspended half naked above her, his eyes huge with want and dim surprise that she didn't know the reason for. Maybe he never thought he'd be able to do this again. Maybe he thought they'd be lost to each other forever.

She only knew, then, that they were not.

"Get those off, Major," she commanded, indicating his pants, though her voice was far too breathy to leave any impact. He leapt to obey, standing and shucking them faster than she'd ever seen him in the many times they'd made love. (Never enough, though. Never enough). He was back, hovering above her, his swollen erection pressing against her thighs.

"Kaidan," she moaned, throwing her head back, but then he kissed her and she could not speak again.

It was beyond description, these times. She was an exhausted and harried survivor in life, and she was used to taking action, standing above the action with her finger extended like a blade, dictating to the galaxy how this war should be won. So in this way, it was wonderful to lay back and abandon all her cares, to let this man knit together by bone and blood – its own odd magic – kneel before her in love and desire.

This wasn't rough, like that first time had been; overcast with the sadness that remained from the years of sorrow. This was slow and steady, hopeful and tender, intimate beyond all knowing. When he entered her, she twined her hands behind his neck and held him close, so that she could hold this feeling of being filled by him well after it had ended.

He knew ever part of her – a knowledge gained from a thousand different times, some pressed against the wall, some taken, some given, some so hard and fast she thought her heart would burst from her chest, some so achingly tender that she thought she would cry (she never cries). His rhythm was deliberate, and she knew that he was pacing himself, making this last as long as it possibly could.

When he brought his lips down to kiss her again, she ran her teeth along the soft skin of them, and he moaned into her mouth. "Shepard . . ." he whispered.

"Don't stop."

He slung one of her legs over his shoulder and drove so deeply that she cried out. She would have screamed to stop if she could speak, and it would have been a lie – it was too good, too intense, and yet he hit that deep place in her relentlessly, his pace increasing, his eyes fixed on the shape her mouth made as she moaned until she cried out again, her body pulling taut as a bowstring, arching under his knowing hands.

She saw that he was struggling, his eyes clenched shut, trying to steady himself even here, buried hilt deep in her, the feel of him so delicious that it sated a need she hadn't even realized she had. She slid her hands around his neck again and at that moment his eyes opened to meet her gaze – searching, gasping, needing. He lost control, burying his face in the hollow of her neck as he came, and she pressed her palms flat on his back, holding him there, sheathed like a sword, in the throes of pleasure too intense to articulate.

He didn't pull away immediately. Instead, they lay together, entwined, coiled like springs, bathed in sweat. When he pulled away it was almost physical pain to feel his absence, gaping between them like a wound.

"Where you going?" she murmured, reaching for him.

"Thought I would get dressed?"

"Nope." She pulled on his arm and he topped back into bed. "I haven't dismissed you yet."

"You know you can't ignore the party forever."

"Aha! I see what this was."

"Yeah?"

"You were trying to butter me up for that stupid party."

"That was an added bonus. I got what I really came for."

"Did you, now?" She smirked. "I can't say I'm satisfied."

"With all due respect, ma'am, that's a load."

She swatted him before rolling to her feet, bypassing her clothes entirely. "Well, come on."

"Are you -?"

"If I'm going to a party, I'm going to need a shower." She paused, leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom suggestively, her lips curling in a delighted smirk. "I think you will too."

She'd never seen a man cross a room as quickly as Kaidan did at that moment.

* * *

-4-

Outside, it snowed without any hope of stopping. Kaidan assured Shepard that though it wasn't rare, exactly, it was uncommon, as Vancouver was usually temperate. Later, they were expected to go to a party at the Alliance headquarters, commemorating the first Christmas after the end of the Reaper conflict, but for now they had an entire morning to themselves.

For themselves, and their child.

Hannah lay in her crib across the room, sound asleep. She'd finally drifted off sometime in the middle of the night, and though they were often reduced to keeping odd hours with their daughter, they found that they wouldn't trade her for anything.

Kaidan twisted the new ring on his left hand, admiring the way it caught the light from the kitchen, and Shepard couldn't keep herself from smiling.

"Look at you," she murmured from under the covers. "Like a teenage girl with a trinket from her boyfriend."

"Much better than any old trinket," he corrected, pressing a kiss to her brow. "Much more meaningful, anyway."

"You think so?"

"Not every day the love of your life proposes to you."

"I'm the love of your life, huh?"

He nuzzled her ear. "The love of my life, my Captain, my savior, and the mother of my child."

"I am all those things, aren't I?" She ducked under the cover again, only because she thought being so smug was unlucky, almost like beckoning for something to go wrong. "Christmas is a good time for us."

"Hm." He stroked her hair. "Remember Ashley and the mistletoe."

"I remember how red your face was."

"You were pretty red yourself, Shepard."

"Well, on me it was charming. You looked like a tomato."

"Uh huh." He was quiet, undoubtedly thinking about the Christmases that had passed while she was gone – how bleak they had been, how empty. She forged ahead.

"How about those messages the year I came back?" she prompted. "You admitted you missed me."

"You admitted it first."

"It was the truth," she said, quiet. "I had asked you to come with me, but really I just wanted to come with you more than anything. Leave Cerberus behind, come back to the Alliance. Handle things that way."

Kaidan paused, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I never thought I'd say this, but it worked out."

She craned up to look at him. "It did, didn't it?"

At that moment, she looked out the window to the snow falling gently on the Alliance grounds, the sun peeking through the storm thick clouds, and thought that she was luckier than a person had any right to be. They had defeated the Reapers, found each other, and now they'd sealed a promise they'd made many years ago in the heights of Chicago – a promise that at times she wondered if she'd ever have the chance to uphold. When she pressed her lips to the man she would make her husband, it was with thanks that had grown too large for words.

He pulled away, grinning in a decidedly smug fashion. "I seem to remember last Christmas especially."

"Oh yeah?"

"I don't suppose you could grace me with a repeat performance?"

It was like he'd read her mind. She fixed him with a predatory grin, savoring the ways she would make this man beg before she gave him what the both of them wanted. In a motion almost too fast to be seen, she pinned him, holding his wrists over his head, hovering just a few shivering inches above. "I could do that."

They were late for the party that year too, as they would be every year after. And all was as it should be.

-End-


End file.
